Arsenal got the job done against Slavia Prague, but Mikel Arteta will have one major frustration

Arsenal looked to be strolling towards another perfunctory victory on Wednesday night at the Fortuna Arena, before Slavia Prague had other ideas in the second half.

The Gunners cruised into half-time with a 2-0 lead, courtesy of goals from Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres. Mikel Arteta's men produced some scintillating football in this half, and it looked more like a matter of how many they'd ultimately get rather than whether they could hang on.

However, the tide turned quickly at the beginning of the second half. Slavia made a change at the break, which seemingly sparked them into life, and they created numerous late opportunities to score before eventually netting their consolation.

If it weren't for a spectacular save from David Raya, the Gunners could easily have dropped points, which might've proved detrimental to their top eight chances.

The Spaniard stood tall, however, and Arsenal emerged from the Czech Republic victorious. Arteta won't be happy though.

Second half in Prague was well below Arsenal's standards

Right from the outset, Arsenal looked off it in the second half. Less than 20 seconds after the referee blew the whistle to commence play after the break, Slavia managed their first shot on target - a stinging long-range effort from Oskar Kubiak, which Raya had to palm wide.

The pressure from the home side didn't let up, and as Arsenal faded and struggled to control the game, Slavia created a flurry of late opportunities. A handful of scrappy moments inside the Gunners' box almost led to the Czech side reducing the deficit, and these moments came before Raya's stunning save.

Slavia did then find their goal in the final minute before stoppage time, with Wiktor Nowak tapping home from a David Jurasek cross.

All in all, Arsenal conceded 17 second-half shots, worth a combined two expected goals. Against a team of Slavia's lowly calibre, this is pretty unacceptable, even if it doesn't mean an awful lot when projecting forward.

Clearly, Arsenal lost energy after their Anfield excursion on Sunday. However, slightly more alarmingly, they seemed to lose a bit of interest. They thought they could sleepwalk through the second half, forgetting that they were still playing a Champions League away game.

Numerous poor decisions were made in possession, as the Gunners simply failed to hold on to the ball when they needed to. They kept attempting ridiculously ambitious forward passes, possibly hinting at a level of arrogance they'd allowed to creep into their game because of the dominant nature of their first half display.

Arteta, who strives for constant excellence, will no doubt be extremely frustrated by what his team did in that second period. In fact, the Spaniard essentially vented his displeasure with the display in his post-match press conference.

"Right from the beginning of the half, we were extremely far from our standards, the basics, the concepts, and everything we discussed to avoid," Arteta said .

"It was far from what we expect from each other, but we found a way to hold onto the result and win the game."

As Arteta alluded to, winning the game was the most important thing on the night, but that won't stop him having a go at his players over the coming days.

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